The Humanities in Medicine Program at the School of Medicine will open its fall program on Thursday, Sept. 23, with a talk and the dedication of a new collection at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Medical Library.

Dr. Alan C. Mermann, medical school chaplain and clinical professor of pediatrics, will present a lecture titled "Do No Harm -- Caring for the Seriously Ill" at 5 p.m. that day in the Beaumont Room of the Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St.

His talk will examine the ways people experience serious life-threatening illnesses, the types of suffering they endure and how others can learn to understand their lives. Mermann is the author of the book "To Do No Harm: Learning to Care for the Seriously Ill," in which he describes a course at the Yale medical school in which patients serve as teachers for medical students, helping them learn the impact of disease on the whole person. The book also discusses how professional health-care providers can achieve fully realized lives through compassionate care of the sick.

The event will also include the dedication of the Kennedy-Wald Collection at the medical library. The collection and associated website are devoted to training clinicians on care for patients at the end of life.